You Waited
by Rahne4227
Summary: Pearl has waited a very long time to say something important.


Gems do not age, humans do. Half-humans do age, though far slower. There were hundreds of years of adventures and quiet times, birthdays and battles. Invaders came and were repelled, wars came and went, and Steven Universe defended Earth all the while. Humanity reached the stars in their own way and, thanks to the Crystal Gems, were able to take a place in a largely peaceful galaxy. Remnants of the old troubles flared up from time to time, and Steven was there to take on anyone who wanted to hurt his people.

* * *

Not always at his side but always nearby was a particular Pearl, another survivor of the Gem Wars. In a galaxy freed from the stone fist of the Diamond Authority, there were only scattered pockets of Gems, the ones who agreed to live peacefully within the Universe Alliance. Garnet had settled in one, a colony of fusions, while Amethyst had stayed on Earth, turning the Prime Kindergarten into a home for any Earth gems who wished to live there peacefully. Pearl didn't mean to follow Steven around, at least not at first. He just needed so much protecting early on, and they fought so well together, they just…

Pearl was there when Steven realized that Connie wouldn't be with him forever. Steven was a very bright boy, so it he figured it out sooner than Pearl expected. When he came stumbling into her room, she had to talk him through his grief, gently reminding him that things weren't over yet, they were just beginning their lives together. "It's early for you, still. These years are ones you're going to remember for the rest of your life. The two of you should make them as exciting as possible!" She watched the tears clear up, and something like his old smile return. His promise to do just that sounded as cheerful and confident as he always did, but Pearl saw that something had changed.

But that change simply became a part of his being. The joyful abandon he had always put into everything stayed, but there was a fervor to it. When the inevitable began, he met it with a determined set to his jaw, never deviating from the promise he'd made to make Connie happy for the rest of her life. He sent Pearl and the others away, assuring them that he had everything under control.

Steven arrived back at the temple, backpack in hand, around his ninetieth birthday. He looked so much like Greg had when they'd first met him. Rose's door opened for him and he spent the first of his grief among the clouds, emerging only to eat at first, then slowly to make repairs on the structure of his old room. The miraculously still standing structure needed the attention, and by the time he was finished fixing everything his restlessness couldn't be ignored any longer.

With Pearl's help he built a ship. Out among the stars, traveling wherever Gem artifacts made themselves troublesome, Steven Universe was a force to be reckoned with. He made friends everywhere he went, even settled down in a few places. He survived, thrived on his own, touching lives and saving everyone he could.

Still, Pearl couldn't help but keep track of him. When she could stand it no longer, she found herself moving to where he was. She made sure not to crowd him. He sometimes didn't know she was there, and Pearl made sure that it stayed that way unless he needed her.

It was a good thing, really. When trouble came she saved him many times and he saved her many times. He knew he would always be able to count on her and Pearl spent her life living up to that promise. Any time his losses became too heavy to carry alone, he shared them with Pearl and they became bearable again.

There was something that she couldn't save him from, however. The Rose Quartz gem sustained his human form for many years longer than a human lifespan, healed him and others over and over again, but there was only so much one could do. Once again, Pearl found herself looking down at a Steven drawn and heavy with age, but this time the gem magic wouldn't be able to pull him back. The gem's light flickered, glowing pink through the thin cloth of his worn shirt.

Pearl half expected to hear that little-boy laugh of his, to watch the years fall away again, but they didn't. There was only stillness, then a breeze that became a gust that swirled the cloud away, and there was only a gem.

The others didn't object when Pearl picked up the rose quartz and placed it gently on a pillow. "He did that with Pearl, remember?" Amethyst's tears blurred her voice. Garnet said "hmm," remembering as well.

The two didn't stay long. The temple felt wrong with only the three of them, and Pearl's grief was agonizingly naked. Both gems invited her home with them but Pearl refused. She assured them she'd be fine and they promised to keep in touch. They did, but Pearl had no intention of leaving now. Not until she was sure.

Months passed, and Pearl had reached a sort of even place as she waited. She trained with swords and spear, she tinkered with ships and inventions, and she waited. Friends came to visit then went home and Pearl waited.

A shimmering sound began while Pearl meditated, but she took it for the warp pad. When she turned to see and saw the gem lifted off of the pillow, her eyes widened. Despite her patient waiting, her shock was intense when the large form coalesced around the gem. There, absolutely unchanged by time, stood Rose Quartz.

Rose saw Pearl and smiled, that special look that Pearl remembered so vividly, the look that only Pearl could provoke in Rose. "You waited."

"I had to." Pearl let her tears flow unheeded. "You know I need to be here for you." Though every fiber screamed at her to rush into Rose's arms, Pearl stood still.

Rose's laugh filled the wooden house. "You've always been here for me- us-" Rose faltered, her brows drawing together as if in confusion. "We- Steven- always needed-" Eyes opening wide, panic filled Rose's once cheerful face. "Oh…"

Now Pearl moved, flinging herself at Rose; not to be held, but to hold her as understanding hit. "Oh Steven…" Rose sobbed brokenly, sinking to the floor. "My son…" She buried her huge face in Pearl's embrace. Pearl said many of the nonsense phrases humans said to each other in times of grief, and for the first time understood why they did such things; because there wasn't anything else to say. But this was Pearl's job, part of what she'd been waiting to do all this time.

When they visited the monument Steven had made in Greg's memory the next day, Pearl worried that Rose wouldn't be able to handle it. Losing comrades in battle had always been hard on them both, but this was different. There was no war to keep fighting, there was no revenge or justice to seek, merely the passage of time- both far too long and far too little for Rose Quartz.

A gorgeous sunset came and went unnoticed as both gems grieved for the human who had affected their lives so profoundly.

During calmer moments they talked about leaving the temple and the wooden house behind, but they stayed, healing together with quiet conversation. It took weeks for Rose Quartz to reach a plateau of her own. She would seem to brighten a bit at a time, then a fresh pain would swamp her again.

Rose drank in every story and memory Pearl had of the utterly unique person Steven had been. His kindness to everyone, even the monsters; the way he drew even enemies into his heart, frequently, if not always, turning them into friends. Rose wept again when she heard how Steven had learned the truth about the first Gem War and his mother's part in it. So many of the things she'd hoped to shield her child from, and each and every one had left its mark on him after all.

As she had always done, Pearl faithfully did everything she could to help Rose through, to give her what she needed to survive in a universe vastly different from the one she'd left behind centuries ago.

Finally, the moment came when all that remained was for Pearl to do what she had to, the thing for which she'd waited all this time.

"I've always wondered, Rose… Did you know? Did you know how much I loved you all those thousands of years?" Even to Pearl the question felt abrupt, even harsh, but how else does one ask such a thing, reopen ancient wounds, without sharpness?

Rose didn't answer right away. "You… loved me?"

Pearl nodded, throat tight. "That feeling that you had for Greg, the way he made you different, better than you had been- I felt that for you, even before the first war began."

Rose shook her head, more in confusion than denial. "You tried to protect me, nearly getting yourself killed over and over- I knew you were devoted to me, as pearls are-"

Pearl's laugh was bitter. "Devoted, yes, we pearls are made for that. Even when I served-" she broke off, determined not to lose track of what she truly needed to say. "I devoted myself to you, and I loved you. You saw me as myself in a way no one else ever had, and that made me brave enough to be more myself than I ever would have been able to. Every moment that we were together was joy to me, every battle we fought together was a victory because I was with you. Everything I ever did was for you, because I loved you."

Rose's eyes were already shining with unshed tears. They began to fall when she understood the rest. "You… used to love me."

Tears ran down Pearl's face as well as she nodded. "I'll never forget loving you, and in a way I always will, but it's been so long, Rose. I waited far too long before, and then you met Greg-" Though Pearl and Greg had made their peace and had lived quite happily as family after that, the agony of losing Rose to him still ached, like a splinter that had never been removed. "And it was too late. I couldn't deny you happiness with him for my own silly feelings. Then when you left- when you gave us Steven-"

There was a long silence before Pearl could speak again. "Thank you, Rose, for Steven. Even though I didn't understand at first, I learned. He taught me. That boy was so good and kind, and no one else in the universe could have done what he did. He saved so many people, and just knowing him was the greatest gift anyone could have…"

"Pearl," Rose's voice trembled, "are you leaving me alone?"

Pearl stood from where she'd been kneeling, brushing non-existent dust off herself to avoid meeting Rose's anguished look. "You won't be alone for long, do you know how fast Amethyst and Garnet will move to be with you again? They haven't been by yet because I've selfishly kept you secret this long." She was finally able to raise her head again. "Whatever happens next, I need to stop waiting. Steven would have wanted it that way."

Rose tried to speak but couldn't, bowing her head for a moment. "I- I understand," she finally managed, then looked up with a flash of determination. "This time, I'll be waiting for you."

It was almost enough- Pearl nearly threw everything away, nearly threw herself into Rose's arms, declaring the whole thing a terrible mistake and redoubling her vow to be with Rose forever… but no. Pearl had come too far, had learned too much. If- if- they were ever to be together, Pearl needed to come to her not as a dedicated servant or a worshipful knight, she had to be her equal, had to be someone who sought and hopefully found her own truth, instead of forever waiting.

Pearl later found herself standing at the Galaxy Warp, all the pads that still had planets on the other end had been repaired and were open to her. Steven had fulfilled the promise he'd made to Pearl when he was just a boy, and now she would travel wherever she wished, because the whole universe waited for her.


End file.
